


Good-bye

by RainyDayWrites



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: First Kiss, Long build-up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 13:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13905159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyDayWrites/pseuds/RainyDayWrites
Summary: Q has to go away but wont say why.





	Good-bye

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a drabble on my RP blog, figured it was long enough to just shove here as a one-shot.

“This will be the last time we meet for a while, mon capitaine. I’m going away to tend to something. I wont be able to check on you for what will be, to you, a year.” The way Q said those words implied it would be much, much longer for the entity. Picard couldn’t say he was surprised. Q often alluded to the notion that he didn’t experience time in the same way a human would. Usually it came off condescending. Tonight it came out almost sad. 

“What could possibly keep you away for any length of time, Q? Let alone a year.” Jean-luc made a sound of disbelief, another thing Q often alluded to, and flaunted, was his ability to control and manipulate time. 

Q’s expression changed, before he had a look about him of determination but now it was something akin to morose. “Some things don’t translate well from the continuum to this universe of yours. Believe it or not there are some things even I can’t work around.” Try as he might. He loathed to be away for so long. 

“You can’t?” Jean-luc prodded curiously, the sight of Q emoting was strangely captivating and it was rare Q admitted weakness or limitation. Bad as it may sound, the captain had some interest in knowing both of those things. He had a ship to protect and while Q was currently acting amiably he had a temper like the sea and he rarely had qualms with pulling someone under to their demise.

“Well of course I can’t. Otherwise I would.” Q puffed somewhat indignantly at the plainness of the question. “Honestly, Picard, don’t be so naive. Surely you’ve realized by now that there’s less difference between us than one might initially believe.”  Q’s paused a moment to process what he’d just said and the look on Jean-luc’s face confirmed he’d been more telling than he’d intended. 

Picard waffled between being offended by Q talking down to him and being curious about them not being too different. Most days Q was very tight lipped about his origins and his kind. He half expected the entity to accuse him of tricking the information out of him. Gently he modified his earlier question. “Where are you going?”

“Somewhere you couldn’t comprehend for longer than you can fathom.” Q remarked with something Picard felt was smugness usually but here Q’s expression told a story of someone trying to find the words and failing. Jean-luc felt as if Q would tell him if he could, believed it viscerally. Still the thinking, cautious part of him said that perhaps this creature was very, very good at imitating life. It was hard to tell with Q. He feared what the entity was capable of. Speaking of fear… Q looked a oddly scared, timid as he danced around leaving. 

“Is there anything else?” Picard queried, not entirely sure he was making the right choice by trying to engage him. Still it was… hard to put down this thought. Q was scared of something.

The entity sat, dropping heavily onto the couch lining one wall of Picard’s office. “No.” He was a remarkably terrible liar. Something wanted to be said and Q was clearly fighting it like a child with a secret. 

“Q,” Picard admonished, voice gentle. The entity fidgeted under the captain’s gaze. A flutter of anxiety started as Jean-luc recognized a frown of frustration forming. 

“I’m trying to be  _good.”_ Q hissed in protest, nose turning up and his hands gesturing erratically. “If I tell you more you’ll accuse me of trying to gain pity or sympathy or something dreadful like that. Or something painfully obvious. ‘You’re being dramatic,Q’. Of course I’m dramatic.“ He hissed, mocking the criticism he was very used to receiving. “If I tell you my journey means my very existence is at stake and I could never come back then there a whole plethora of awful probabilities, each more likely than the last that you either wont believe more or– Or-… I’m trying to be good.” Q was absolutely red in the face and caught up in his own rant. He was blind to what was going on around him, immersed in puppetteering his physical effigy to just barely express the strange fear he felt being cornered trying to follow self imposed rules. 

Picard had never thought of Q as someone who tried to improve or follow any kind of code of etiquette. He mostly thought of him as a very dangerous nuisance. But here Q was, sitting on his couch genuinely, at least very convincingly, panicking and ranting.He’d never seen a stronger glimmer of humanity in Q before now. It was almost comforting. “Q.” Picard raised his voice and came a little closer. “You might never come back?” The notion dawned on him that perhaps Q wasn’t nearly as immortal as he’d thought. 

“I wasn’t going to tell you that.” Q protested. Mostly because he’d stopped looking into the actual immediate future to get a leg up and now worried about finding out things he didn’t want to. Like a note of relief that he could be killed or squashed out. Hope that some unknown danger would snuff him from existence. He didn’t like inconvenient truths. 

“Why not?” he was very used to Q trying to buy or bribe favor. 

“I just finished explaining, honestly. Keep up.” Q huffed and stood up. “I should be going.” Should be. Not though.

“You’ve only just arrived.” Picard took the cue that his guest was lingering for something. Though he wasn’t sure what. He watched Q’s smile as it evolved from tight and uncomfortable to sober and sentimental. Something in Jean-luc’s chest tightened and fluttered. An emotion he wasn’t used to associating with the man…. creature… in front of him. 

“If I didn’t know you any better… I’d call that an invitation to stay.” Q teased, though his expression still read as sad and sweet. Q closed the gap between them, his hand upon his chin before he could say a word against it. “I wish I could.” His voice quivered, the tremble of imminent tears.

“Q?” Picard was frozen in place, a mixture of concern and fear swimming in his expression. Q was staring directly into his eyes in that unsettling shark-like way, his gaze dark and glassy; unreadable. “What are you doing?” 

“Saying good-bye.” There was that great and terrible sadness again. He bowed his head, their noses brushing together. “I’d like to say it with a kiss.” 

That sounded astoundingly like Q was asking for permission. Color the captain impressed. One wouldn’t stop at impressed; embarrassed, nervous and confused were also on the pallet. Right next a shade of attraction he didn’t remember bringing into the mix. “Then do it.” The words fell from his lips unthinkingly. 

Q had no desire to let the opportunity slip by, his lips pressing against him with a little more gusto than was probably comfortable for his ‘partner’. It only lasted a brief moment before Q  reminded himself he had to pull away. “I hope this isn’t our last  _encounter.”_ He muttered, pressing their foreheads together, wishing he could get away with remaining on the Enterprise. This was bigger than even himself, though, he couldn’t risk it. 

Picard didn’t even have a chance to respond, the warm places where Q had once been making contact with him grew cold as eh found himself alone once again, the only evidence he was ever there was the mild disarray of his personal items. He left them as is, returning to his desk, silently mulling over what he’d just done. The conversation he’d just had and the things he’d learned and bore witness to. “Until next time…” He breathed out to dead air, rubbing his chin. Suddenly a year seemed like a long time.


End file.
